The Australian government will investigate reports that Zainullah Naseri, an Afghan Hazara asylum seeker, was kidnapped and tortured by the Taliban after he was deported from Australia in August. The Saturday Paper last week reported that Naseri was kidnapped by the Taliban at a roadside checkpoint and tortured for two days before escaping.
The High Court of Australia is hearing an appeal from a 51-year-old Hazara man who was told by the Refugee Review Tribunal in 2013 that he could return to Kabul and avoid persecution if he changed his occupation from truck driver to jeweller.
The Australian Federal Police will investigate claims that staff of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison leaked part of a confidential security report from the Nauru detention centre that included allegations staff from the charity Save the Children were encouraging asylum seekers to self-harm.
A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia found more than 80 per cent of 139 pediatricians believe the mandatory detention of asylum seeker children amounts to "child abuse".
A representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees praised Germany for agreeing to take 20,000 Syrian refugees, while criticizing other European countries for not accepting more.